Mirjana Karanovic

Mirjana Karanović (b. 1957, Belgrade), a leading Serbian actress, has more than forty film roles to her name. She is familiar from movies such as Emir Kusturica's When Father Was Away on Business (1985) and Jasmila Žbanić's Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams (2006), for which she received accolades at numerous fests and was also nominated for a European Film Award.

A Good Wife is the first film for which she takes the lead role, directs and writes. She was inspired by real events – in 1995 a special Serbian police unit executed several Bosniaks and a video of the killing subsequently leaked into the public domain. She doesn't attempt to analyse the crime committed against the civil population, focusing more on the dysfunctional families of those who perpetrated it. In 2008 Karanović took the Winning Freedom Award for her efforts to promote the principles of human rights. A Good Wife was premiered this year at Sundance.

MFF Karlovy Vary